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AT THE MOVIES: HUNGER GAMES REDUX
The 2012 film, "Hunger Games," the first in a planned trilogy of films from the best-selling novels of the same name, was a mega box-office hit and critical success. The sequel, "Hunger Games: Catching Fire" opens on Friday, Nov. 22. Again the setting is a dystopian future where a small elite rule over a wrecked North America and force young people to fight for their lives in arena games.

Lead character Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), barely survived the arena in the first film. This time she fights in a match rigged by the elite to end her life. ELIZABETH BANKS, 39, returns as Katniss's chaperone, Elsie; with LYNN COHEN, 69, playing Mags, a new ally of Katniss.

Cohen, who played Magda, Miranda's nanny on "Sex and the City," and GOLDA MEIR in STEVEN SPIELBERG's film, "Munich," lived in St. Louis for many years, where she directed plays at the city's JCC.

KENNEDY AND LINCOLN

Lincoln: It seems as though these two "martyr" Presidents will always be linked in many ways, even if some linkages are just coincidental. Nov. 19, 2013 marked the 150th anniversary of Lincoln giving his Gettysburg Address. Nov. 22 is the 50th anniversary of JFK's death.

Holzer, a major credited source for Spielberg's film "Lincoln," has often given a great lecture at synagogues and universities about Lincoln's relationship to Jews. A short essay version of that lecture ("Lincoln and the Jews") can be found on a comprehensive website called "Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City: 1861-65" (i.e. Washington, D.C.).

INTERESTED IN YOUR FAMILY HISTORY?

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So here's the deal: Send Nate an e-mail at middleoftheroad1@aol.com, and tell him you saw this ad on Jewish World Review and include your phone number (area code too). Nate will contact you about doing a limited family history for a modest cost (no more than $100). No upfront cost. Open to everybody; of any religious/ethnic background.

Here is one touching excerpt about the Jewish reaction to Lincoln's death: "At Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan the mourners' Kaddish was recited for the first time in memory of a non-Jew, inspiring a protest from some outraged Orthodox Jews but praise from most congregants. If Lincoln could break precedent by opening up the army to Jewish chaplaincy, then synagogues could say Kaddish for their gentile champion. Even in the South, Jewish leaders acknowledged a special bond between Lincoln and the Jews and a special sorrow at his loss. It was attributable mainly to Lincoln's acts of compassion and justice, but perhaps, also, to the fact that his religious beliefs seemed so universal."

Early this week, some news outlets said that President Obama omitted the words "under G0D" from his recitation of the Gettysburg Address on the Burns' website and they implied this was an expression of the President's lack of religious belief. Most such outlets retracted their criticism of Obama when it was pointed out that Burns had the famous people recite one or another of the five known alternate versions of the Address. One of these alternate versions is, in effect, Lincoln's first draft and it has come to be known as the Nicolay version. It is named after one of Lincoln's private secretaries. The Nicolay version, which Obama recited, does not include the words "under G0D."

Kennedy: Decades ago, author Jodie Elliott Hansen started asking famous people and regular folk to send her a letter about their whereabouts when JFK was killed and their immediate reaction. A selection of those letters has just been published under the title, "November 22, 1963." A number of the responses came from Jewish celebs, including one from the late, great actor WALTER MATTHAU, which encapsulated, for me, the shock and despair JFK's death provoked. Matthau wrote: "A friend of mine called with the news that President Kennedy had been shot. I turned on the TV set and just stared at it until the news came that he was dead. A friend showed up at the house and we drank 3 quarts of 100 proof vodka in the next six hours and I don't drink."

Persons in capital letters, above, are deemed Jewish for the purpose of this column. For the purpose of the column, the person has to have at least one Jewish parent, be raised Jewish or secular, and not identify with a religion other than Judaism as an adult. Converts to Judaism are also, of course, considered Jewish, even if they don't have a Jewish parent.

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